Sinner Storms Back To Beat Alcaraz In Miami SF, Ending Spaniard’s No. 1 Reign

Jannik Sinner roared back in his budding rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz with a statement semi-final win on Friday night at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The Italian’s 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 victory will end Alcaraz’s reign atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with Novak Djokovic set to take over as World No. 1 on Monday.

“It means a lot. We both played a very, very high level of tennis again. I just tried my best,” Sinner said after advancing to his second ATP Masters 1000 final, both in Miami. “In the third set I saw him struggle a little bit for a couple of games so I tried to push there… We both tried to play very aggressive tennis and today it went my way so I’m very happy.”

Despite leading early in all three sets, Sinner was on the brink of defeat as he stared down two break points at 3-4 in the second. But the 21-year-old won 19 of 21 points to snatch the set and open up a 2-0 lead in the deciding set, with Alcaraz struggling physically at the start of set three. The Spaniard regrouped to bring up a break point at 3-2, but Sinner fought it off and powered through the finish after three hours of show-stopping tennis of the highest quality.

By levelling their ATP Head2Head series at 3-3, Sinner snapped Alcaraz’s 10-match and 21-set winning streaks, denying the Spaniard’s bid to achieve the Sunshine Double by following his Indian Wells trophy with a successful Miami title defence.

Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final, when the Italian will play for his first ATP Masters 1000 title. He previously reached the Miami title round in 2021, when he lost to Hubert Hurkacz. Sinner has yet to beat Medvedev in five tries, their most recent meeting coming in the Rotterdam final in February.

“Different conditions than in Rotterdam. I’m very happy that I can face him in a final again,” Sinner said, looking ahead to the matchup. “The last one I lost obviously, but I’ll try my best, I’ll try to make some good changes like today against Carlos and let’s see. I feel good on this court. I have very good memories and hopefully I can show some good tennis.”

More to follow…